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PUBLISHER'S NOTES
YIKES! IT’S TIME TO VOTE AGAIN
Nobody ever runs against incumLents
around here, but this year is different: the
July 18 Democratic Primary has contested
races for State Senator, District Attcrney,
Sheriff, and one Commissioner. The
November General Election pits Republicans
against Democrats foi the 11th
Congressional District, State Senate District
46, State Representative District 24 and three
Commission seats, one of which is the open
8th District seat vacated by Ken Jordan.
In the 11th District, the courageous but
hapless Democrat, Vince Littman, from
Commerce (total campaign funds $0), is
again single-handedly taking on the Goiiath
that our absentee Congressman John Linder
has become. Linder doesn’t even live in our
district, yet is a right-wing, fundamentalist
‘ Christian" mouthpiece with $650,000 in lob
byist money to spend (obscene!) and
belongs to what once was the party of
Abraham Lincoln.
Jim Ivey, who is from Oconee
County, but has an Athens
address, owns a computer
store and is the Republican
challenger for the State Senate
seat where Democrat Paul Broun
has sat for lo these many years. Ivey,
in November, will face Broun or Doug
Haines, should Haines accomplish the
improbable stunt of pulling the chair out
from under Broun and his $99,000 (and
growing) lobbyist-fueled campaign coffer.
Athens attorney Doug McKillip is running as
a Democrat against the treacly fundamen
talist foghorn incumbent Republican Ralph
Hudgens in State Representative District 24.
which takes in just the northeast corner of
Athens-Ciarke.
On the Athens-Ciarke County
Commission, 4th District Commissioner
Democrat John Barrow faces his bi-annual
Republican opposition, this time in the form
of ultra-conservative UGA student Michael
Le Houllier. Republican Marilyn Farmer, in
the 6th District, faces political gadfly Carl
Jordan in November. Marilyn is probably a
shoo(fly)-in, although it looked that way last
time, and John Jeffreys almost slipped up on
her. Carl would make an interesting addition
to the DocFest that
the Commission has
become.
But, listen: July 18
is almost here, so
let’s try to sort out
these various races.
Just because I get to
write this column,
don’t assume any superior political wisdom
on my part. I’m stuck down here trying to
meet a payroll instead of getting ou* with my
ear to the ground and my finger on the pulse
of the public. What I hand you here is just
what I’ve been able to glean from some hur
ried conversations with “usually reliable
sources ”
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Take Harry Gordon (please). Harry has
been an incumbent since the day that then-
Governor Jimmy Carter appointed him
District Attorney 28 years ago. Harry has
never been opposed and has generally taken
to considering himself D.A. for Life.
Then here comes Solicitor General Ken
Mauldin, who slipped up on Ken Stula when
he was Solicitor General and. using a net
work of church and citizen groups, beat
Stula before Stula ever started taking him
seriously.
Maybe Harry looked ripe for the picking,
too. After all. Harry is by all reports a very
wealthy man (real estate) and maybe too
comfortable actually to run for his office. But
Harry has jumped like a shot snake and is off
and running the 1972-style campaign he
wc*’’ 1 have run the first time around. He’s
got his signs out and pickup trucks parked
around with big Gordon signs on them. He’s
had a political barbecue at Charlie Williams’
place that one seasoned political junkie
called the biggest he’s seen in a long time.
And Harry has the solid support and money
of the legal community. The lawyers I have
talked to either like Harry or fear Ken or
both. They say Gordon has done a good job,
and they see Mauldin as being far too ambi
tious and rigid to be a good District
Attorney, far too insistent on litigating every
thing and likely to tie up the courts with nit
picking fanaticism instead of moving things
Y along by working them out.
Ken on the other hand, says the
defense lawyers just don’t realize how
many cases he declined to prosecute
as Solicitor General, and that
they’re all trying to get him to
bend the law where it applies
to mandatory license revoca
tions and prosecution of
domestic violence cases even
when the victim changes (her)
mind. Mauldin, who has declined to
accept any contributions over $100 and
therefore doesn’t have a lot of money, is
working through neighborhood receptions
and mailings and counting on citizen orga
nizing to offset Gordon’s financial and polit
ical support in the legal community.
STATE SENATE DISTRICT 46
Doug Haines faces another Goliath in the
form of the aged veteran Paul Broun, who
wants another term so that he can be there
to help create a new Athe.is-centered
Congressional district that rich dentists
from Tucker (like John Linder, for instance)
won’t have a chance of winning. Broun is an
indefatigable campaigner whom all the
aging hopefuls have watched quadrennium
after quadrennium run easily for re-elec
tion. Broun has always served the big guys,
the “establishment" (you know who you
are), and they've been happy for him to
continue on in
office, even though
he long ago lost his
powerful Senate
Appropriations
Committee chair
manship to changing
Senate political
alignments.
Haines is anything but slick, and is lucky
if his shirttail is tucked in, but he is one can
didate who can confidently be predicted to
be aggressive and independent should he
make his way into the State Senate. Haines,
as an environmental attorney, has won land
mark cases forcing the cleanup and protec
tion of Georgia rivers, and he knows how to
combine radical action with painstaking
preparation and research. He’ll never be an
insider, but he will kick down a few doors.
Therefore, Haines doesn’t have much
money to confront the bulging trunkful that
special interests have supplied to Broun.
Haines is going the route of neighborhood
organizing and targeting the voters most
likely to respond to him. He’s got a web site
(doughaines.com) and some experienced
campaigners helping him, while Broun has
his decades of contacts, favors, name recog
nition, acceptability at the Club and all the
billboards money can buy.
(To be continued next week)
Pete McCommons
Don't assume any
superior-political
wisdom on my part.
Doug Haines
works for Georgians
4.v- - -• r. .... ** .
As director of Georgia Legal Watch, Doug works every day to
promote government accountability, environmental protection, and
empowerment of citizen groups. As a nationally recognized expert on
water and environmental issues and a public interest lawyer, he has
made community service his calling.
Doug Has a Proven Record of Service
to the Citizens of District 46
• Establishing lead removal, water quality and clean river projects
• Encouraging the local government and UGA to protect the
environment
• Providing public seminars and workshops to assist citizens in
promoting open and accountable govemement
Lets Send Doug to the Georgia Senate
Doug will work to
• Close the gap in spending vs. achievement in K-12 schools
• Improve the economic and environmental health of our communities
• Reform a health care system driven by insurance companies, ensuring
that health care decisions are made by patients and their doctors
• Enact laws that protect meaningful citizen participation and ensure
that elected officials are accountable.
• Provide workers with better protec don, fair treatment and safer
workplaces
every day
campaign
is not about whai
may Imve been
\ ' *
accomplished
in the^krsi.
lie can 7 afford
for it to be about
anythinf» but
the future? 9
Vote July 18
Democratic Primary
District.46
HAINES
for
State SENATE
Doug has political experience and a proven
record of serv ice to the citizens of District 46
Let s Send Doug to the Georgia Senate
: :
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JULY 5,
2000